Cross-national ethnography in neonatal intensive care units

In this chapter, we describe our experiences of conducting comparative ethnographic research in a highly medicalised setting, the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in Sweden and England. We start by presenting the rationale for conducting our cross-national ethnographic study, followed by briefly describing how the study was conducted. We then discuss key challenges throughout the planning, undertaking the research and the data analysis

Introducing the theory and practice of ethnography

In this chapter, we focus upon the range of theoretical underpinnings that have influenced ethnography, associated methodological approaches and the practicalities of conducting ethnography

The UK policy context : reconfiguration of the Unicef UK Baby Friendly Initiative to reflect the importance of relationships and ensuring sustainability

Over the last 20 years, the Unicef UK Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI) has succeeded in gaining national recognition for the importance of breastfeeding and creating new ‘common knowledge’ related to many breastfeeding practices in the health service and among policy makers. For example, once hotly debated topics such as skin-to-skin contact, rooming in, teaching mothers how to breastfeed and avoiding supplements are now accepted as good practice. While not every mother in the UK receives this level of support, overall standards have improved and breastfeeding initiation rates have steadily increased: from 62% in 1990, to 76% in 2005, to 81% in 2010

A meta-synthesis of women’s perceptions and experiences of breastfeeding support

Breastfeeding conveys significant health benefits to infants and mothers yet in many affluent nations breastfeeding rates continue to decline across the early months following birth. Both peer and professional support have been identified as important to the success of breastfeeding. What is not known are the key components or elements of support that are effective in increasing the duration of breastfeeding? The aim of this meta-synthesis was to examine women’s perceptions and experiences of breastfeeding support, either professional or peer, in order to illuminate the components of support that they deem ‘supportive’. A secondary aim was to describe any differences between components of Peer and Professional support